How Long Should You Date A Guy Before Getting Married?

Although your heart may currently be full of Christmas cheer, don’t worry, because it won’t last long. In a few months, your social media feeds will be full of halo-surrounded cubic zirconium and girls who aren’t old enough to drink yet proudly proclaiming that they received their ring by spring. Good. For. You. While they’re thrilled to be better than their peers and completely oblivious to the fact that they’ll hate their engagement rings in five years, it turns out that for us single ladies, things are actually way better than they appear. No, you didn’t get engaged to the guy who sat next to you for eight months in gen ed classes, but when you do get engaged for real, there’s actually a way better chance that your relationship will last.

According to a new study, the happiest women in marriages tied the knot after dating for 3.6 years. Of course, this isn’t exactly great news for all of you ladies getting married in college, because the chances are that you’ve only known your future husbands for a year or two before getting engaged. However, this study shows that even though beating your friends to the punch is awesome, waiting to get married is even better, because you’ll likely have experienced some conflict or a major life change with your significant other and you’ll have had the opportunity to see whether or not you truly support each other when times get tough. If you’ve only dated each other for a short amount of time, things may have been all rainbows and butterflies all of the time, and you have no idea how the two of you will react to each other once you enter the real world, which, of course, can lead to serious relationship problems including divorce.

So if you don’t think you’ll be getting a ring by spring, don’t sweat it, because that’s actually probably a good thing for you. For those of you who think you’ll be getting engaged to your college sweetheart in the next few months, it isn’t hopeless for you, but know that sadly the odds aren’t exactly in your favor. Best of luck if you are getting engaged, but if he’s pre-med or a business major, you may want to try to get out of signing a pre-nup…just in case..

[via Women’s Health]

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